Day 7: How to Do a Weekly Review Without Turning It Into an Evaluation

The purpose of a weekly review is not to assess whether you are doing well. It is to note what the week produced — what is now clearer, what remains opaque, what was confirmed, what was unexpected.

Evaluation tends to be motivational — it produces feelings about the work rather than information about it. Information is more useful.

Ask two questions only. What did this week clarify that was previously unclear? What remains unclear? Write both down. Do not attempt to close the second list. Unanswered questions are data — they tell you where the month's remaining work is located.

Leave the review in under ten minutes. The tendency is to expand it into a broader reckoning. Resist that. A focused, specific weekly review compounds across the month. A sprawling one produces overwhelm and is usually abandoned by week three.